A Position Made by Suffering

This was our last class before the Christmas break. We will meet again starting January 12, 2010. While this semester we looked at the Kingdom of God as communicated to us in the Gospels, for the next semester we will spend some time looking at the significance of the cross. It is the finished work of the cross that allows us to enter the Kingdom of God and I sensed that the Lord wanted us to camp there for awhile.

Today we looked at 2 Timothy 2:15, specifically, today's (12/15) devotional reading in My Utmost for His Highest, by Oswald Chambers. In the study of the Word of God, there is that time of wrestling it out until it becomes a truth in our own lives. Only then does it become milk and meat for others. As 2 Timothy 2:10 tell us, we are the target for the lost. Through the window of our lives, they see the way home.

May we continue to be transparent so that others may know there is hope and hope has a name. His name is Jesus and that is what we celebrate; Immanuel - God with us.

The Supreme Manifestation of Love is found in Forgiveness

This week we looked at Matthew 5:38-48 - the law of love demanded in the Kingdom of God. Each of us discovered this was both a hard and a good lesson. A hard lesson because the test of the love that God demands is found in forgiveness and real forgiveness is costly suffering. A good lesson because what God demands He gives freely by grace and that the ultimate show of love was demonstrated for us on the cross of Christ.

The standard of righteousness required of the Kingdom of God is high and perfection will only be accomplished in the Age to Come, yet He has allowed us to experience a real and evident measure of the righteousness of His Kingdom in this evil age through His Son and the Holy Spirit.

A Matter of the Heart

For the next several weeks we are looking at the Righteousness (ethics) of the Kingdom as communicated to us in the Sermon on the Mount. Specifically, in Matthew 5:20, Jesus tells us that our entrance into the kingdom of heaven is such that our righteousness (our uprightness and our right standing with God) must be greater than that of the scribes and Pharisees.

The scribes and Pharisees were the keepers and doers of the law such that in order to make sure they did all that the law commanded they added layer upon layer of additional laws. Jesus struck at the very core of their emphasis on legislating the outward act to setting it all aside and presenting a higher standard. This higher standard focused on the inner attitude and character.

Not committing murder was no longer the standard but not being angry with another. No longer was committing adultery the standard but Jesus says if in your heart is lust, you stand guilty before God. No longer is your truthfulness to be buttressed by an oath but Jesus says the man who knows the righteousness of the kingdom needs no oath. His naked word is valid. Your neighbor can trust your word, both in the spirit and the letter of your promise.

As we saw in our last lesson, our relationship with God is no longer mediated by the Law but by one who has submitted to the reign (rule) of God that has been manifested in Jesus. When a person is restored to fellowship with God, that person becomes a child of God and a recipient of a new power.

The righteousness that God demands, He gives us through His Son.